Countries: Burma/Myanmar
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-1

"[T]he military junta, which routinely uses rape as a weapon of war and form of punishment" (Para 4).

Countries: Burma/Myanmar
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"In Myanmar, abortion is illegal unless the pregnancy can be proven to be a risk to the life of the birth parent. The laws governing abortion have not changed since they were first enacted in the 19th century, when Myanmar (also known as Burma) was under British colonial rule. In 2013, the country began developing a new law in order to meet international norms on gender and sexual-based violence, providing activists with some hope that the country might update its outdated laws on abortion. Medication abortion involves taking two medications, mifepristone and misoprostol, displayed here on a smartphone. Until last July, the FDA required these medications to be dispensed in...more

Countries: Burma/Myanmar
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-1

"The lack of access to safe abortions in Myanmar is a symptom of a larger lack of sexual and reproductive health education. Most Myanmar schools do not offer sex education as a separate subject, leaving many young people to grow up uninformed. In 2020, senior Buddhist monks took to Facebook to denounce a government proposal to offer sex education in schools, and when a doctor derided them in response, he was charged with insulting the clergy and sentenced to 21 months in prison" (Para 38-39).

Countries: Burma/Myanmar
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"The danger stems from the fact that abortions are illegal in Myanmar unless the person seeking one can prove their life is at risk. Strict laws criminalise those who perform abortions for other reasons, and violators can face up to seven years in prison" (Para 17). "Myanmar’s criminalisation of abortion dates back to a colonial-era Penal Code, first enacted in 1861. Under Article 312 of that code, anyone who performs an abortion, including on oneself, for any reason other than to save the woman’s life, is subject to up to three years in prison, a fine, or both. For late-term abortions, the penalty rises to seven years. In 2013, lawmakers...more

Countries: Burma/Myanmar
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-2

"But, despite being widely documented, there has never been a realistic path to hold the perpetrators to account for women such as Khatun" (par. 11). "In 2019, the international criminal court (ICC) approved a full investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed by Myanmar but progress has been slow" (par. 12).

Countries: Burma/Myanmar
Variables: GEW-DATA-1

"New research into alleged war crimes in Myanmar has concluded that the majority of senior commanders in the Myanmar military, many of whom hold powerful political positions in the country, were responsible for crimes including rape, torture, killings and forced disappearances carried out by units under their command between 2011 and 2023. The research, by the Security Force Monitor (SFM), a project run by Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute, states that 64% – 51 of 79 – of all Myanmar’s senior military commanders are responsible for war crimes" (par. 1-2).

Countries: Burma/Myanmar
Variables: TRAFF-PRACTICE-1, TRAFF-PRACTICE-2, TRAFF-DATA-1, MARR-PRACTICE-1

"Human Rights Watch has documented bride trafficking in Myanmar, where each year hundreds of women and girls are deceived through false promises of employment into traveling to China, only to be sold to Chinese families as brides and forced into sexual slavery, often for years. Most were pressured to become pregnant as quickly as possible; some were compelled to undergo forced fertility treatment. Those with children who were lucky enough to escape could usually only do so by leaving their children behind. Several of the interviewed women had been trafficked multiple times. Reports have found that bride trafficking occurs in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, and Vietnam...more

Countries: Burma/Myanmar
Variables: SEGI-PRACTICE-1

"Initially, Ms. Ying Lao challenged manelists and organizers in private. When her concerns were dismissed, she went public. Now she and a handful of other female activists call out every manel they come across with a campaign they call Burma’s Manels Watch. Both the organizers and the manelists are the targets of their ire" (para 14-15). "For International Women’s Day in March 2023, Ms. Ying Lao arranged an exhibition in Chiang Mai. Its tagline declared: 'A manel a day keeps democracy away.' Visitors gazed at screenshots and pictures of hundreds of manelists staring at them from posters. There was a bingo board showcasing common excuses used by manel organizers to...more

Countries: Burma/Myanmar
Variables: GP-DATA-1

"A panel discussion in Myanmar about female leadership had two speakers. Both were male. Another talk, about how to stay safe from the military government’s deadly bombing campaign against civilians, featured four men and no women. Yet another, an event to raise funds for rebel forces, gathered more than a dozen speakers online, all of them men. Over the past four years, Ying Lao has documented scores of 'manels' — all-male panels — organized by the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar" (para 1-4). "With the exception of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s former civilian leader, the country’s politics have been dominated by men. She was the only female member of...more

Countries: Burma/Myanmar
Variables: IIP-PRACTICE-2, EWCMS-PRACTICE-4

"But women have been at the forefront of the struggle against the junta. They have marched in peaceful protests. They strung up their sarongs over streets as shields because many men fear that walking under them will sap their virility. Women have rejected cultural norms by picking up weapons against the military" (para 10).

Countries: Belarus, Botswana, Burma/Myanmar, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Kuwait, Libya, Montenegro, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Syria, Turkmenistan
Variables: IRP-SCALE-1

10

Countries: Burma/Myanmar
Variables: AFE-PRACTICE-2, AFE-LAW-1

"After seven years of medical school in Myanmar, May finally achieved her goal of becoming a doctor. But a month after she graduated and found a job, her dreams started unraveling" (par. 1).

Countries: Burma/Myanmar
Variables: ERBG-PRACTICE-2, ERBG-DATA-2

"And the unemployment rate for women remains far higher than that for men" (par. 24).

Countries: Burma/Myanmar
Variables: IRP-DATA-2

"It is hard to track how many women are involved in the trade, but women plying the streets have become much more apparent. In interviews, half a dozen women — four white-collar workers who have turned to prostitution and two rights activists — said that more educated women are now having sex with men to make a living" (par. 7). "There is no end in sight to this misery — the junta has lost a lot of ground to the rebels but still controls Myanmar’s cities, where prostitution has increased in brothels, karaoke bars, nightclubs and hotels" (par. 9).

Countries: Burma/Myanmar
Variables: SEGI-PRACTICE-3

"Zar was a nurse at a private hospital in Mandalay, which was shut down by the military government because its doctors had joined the protest movement" (par. 10).